The Eighth Sin
by RunningWords
Summary: Ino has found a scroll revealing forbidden jutsu of the Yamanaka Clan. One catches her eye and her mind. A jutsu that can make a person fall in love with the caster. Her target, Sasuke. Only first she must find a human test subject.
1. Chapter 1

Ino rolled up a scroll with a huge smile on her face. _"Perfect." _She had _accidently _stumbled upon a scroll that had forbidden jutsu of the Yamanaka Clan written in it. There was one jutsu that stuck out in her mind. It sounded wonderful, so wonderful she didn't know why it was forbidden. It seemed easy enough to cast and very useful. A jutsu that would make the victim fall in love with the caster. The scroll detailed the person would not want to leave your side. They would do whatever you asked of them.

Ino thought about all the mission in which this nifty jutsu would come in handy. Gathering information would be a breeze if they were willing to spill their guts to the one they _loved. _Getting close to someone you needed to assassinate would be a breeze. She saw no draw backs to this jutsu. First she would need to practice the jutsu. If there was one man she wanted to make fall in love with her. _"Sasuke." _

Her heart started to race, _" Yes Sasuke!" _maybe if she used this jutsu on him, he would be willing to come back to the village to be with her. The scroll said the victim didn't want to leave the casters side. She could have the man she loved and rub is in Sakura's face. "_Yamanaka Ino, the girl who brought back Sasuke._" She smiled widely. Only she would need to test this jutsu out on someone else first to make sure she can do it correctly. She fought the thoughts of approaching Sasuke and possibly being killed by him.

It took only three weeks before she was confident enough to find a test subject. Rather than a person she casted the jutsu on animals started with a fish. Her dad noted it odd a dead fish showed up on their front doorstep one morning. Ino had gathered the fish had flopped all the way from the river to her front door. It had died after some time without oxygen. Not too long after that she casted on bird a bit to her annoyance. The bird would sing outside her window every morning. Her mother commented on its songs. By the end of the 6th week Ino had a new pet cat.

She felt rather lucky her parents didn't find it to odd. The cat followed her around everywhere. Shikamaru on the other hand he noticed. Ino just proclaimed to have a new found love for cats. Cats are "Even better then dogs." She proclaimed to Kiba. Although rather odd everyone seemed to believe the cat just was really fond of her for no reason at all. Thanks to Akamaru she could also point out it wasn't that strange for animals to go _everywhere _with you.

After two more weeks Ino started to keep the cat at the house and luckily for her the cat didn't try to escape to find her. She figured that was a good sign as long as she saw the cat daily it didn't seem to deprived from her to go looking. This isn't to say the cat didn't meet her at the front door whenever she got home. The cat always greeted her, and always lay at the end of her bed when she was in her room. The bird had stopped its nonsense singing, thank the gods. Although it was only due to the fact the cat had ate the bird.

That night Ino lay in her bed confident in her ability. _"I need to cast it on a human now." _But who. Someone she saw often, Shikamaru, Chouji? "_ew.." _ or perhaps someone else she wouldn't mind seeing often. _"Sai."_ She wondered. It didn't make up her mind until the next day. Ino preferred to cast on someone she would _like _to spend more time with. _BUT_ it would be less suspicious if it was Shikamaru. Her mind was set and she had asked Shikamaru to meet her later that day.

She was starting to feel more nervous the closer and closer it got to the meeting time. "_Sunset at the training fields_." She recalled. When she got their all fear faded away instantly. It was just Shikamaru after all. She found him lying in the grass looking to be taking a nap. Quietly she walked over to him, sneaky. His eyes flew open and she let out a little squeak.

"I see you." He said simply.

"I thought you were sleeping." She replied. He learned up slowly avoiding a head rush. She sat down next to him in the grass. A few minutes passed and no one spoke.

"Ino?" he asked.

"Mhm?"

"Did you need something, I mean you did ask me to meet you here." He pointed out.

"Oh nothing gets past you, genius Shikamaru." She smiled. He rolled his eyes in response. "But your right, I need a favor of sorts."

"It's either a favor or it's not."

"Well I've been having trouble casting, body mind transfers for some reason." She lied. She turned to face him with pleading eyes. She read the closer to the victim you can be, for best results. "You wouldn't mind if I just tested it on you a couple times, would you?"

"I guess not, but maybe you should have asked your father. See if this has ever happened to him before."

"No need." She said as she started to make the signs needed for the jutsu.

"Ino that's not the hand sign for-" He fell silent. She observed him closely; it looked as if the mind body transfer had been used. He moved rather suddenly scaring her. She looked at him waiting for him to speak almost as if fear had frozen her. Waiting to see its effect, if any.

Shikamaru placed his hand on her cheek softly. He looked deeply into her eyes. "Ino.." he said learning in closer and closer to her lips. She still felt frozen and unable to move, if she didn't know better she'd think he'd used a shadow jutsu. Their lips met for a moment.

Until she found herself and pushed him back away from her.. "Shikamaru, what the hell!" She hissed. She wasn't expecting this, she wasn't expecting this at all. . .


	2. Chapter 2

Ino angrily pulled the bed covers over her head. "Stupid Shikamaru." She muttered. After being mauled by her teammate she ran straight home. Nothing could have prepared her for such a shock. Never in her right mind did she think he would kiss her. She placed fingers gently on her lips. _My first kiss, stolen by Shikamaru. _"erg" she rolled over in despair. She wanted to beat him till his last breath. Still it was mostly her fault, the jutsu worked.

The cat seemed to have much more self-control then Shikamaru had. Ino wondered if the cat being of another species and thus was less affected by the Jutsu. While Shikamaru being human like her, was affected more then she had anticipated. When she was finally able to sleep she had many dreams. In one dream every man in the village was falling for her. Ultimate power! In another she dreamed of Shikamaru kissing her again, only she didn't resist. Her final dream showed something in which could become reality. Shikamaru so in love with Ino he would be willing to freeze Sasuke in place so Ino could cast her Jutsu on him.

Ino woke up smiling to herself. Not willing to reveal which dream brought her such pleasure. Happily she got herself out of bed, then opening her window to let in the morning air. Her eyes widened and she stumbled backwards in shock. "Shikamaru!" she screamed. He smiled and wave at her from the other side of the window. "What- WHAT are you doing? Go away!" she slammed the window shut. He just continued to smile and look at her with loving eyes. "Erg!" she ran out of her room.

"Ino?" her mother called. "Is something wrong?"

"N-No mother." She replied.

When Ino finally found the courage to go back into her room Shikamaru was gone from her window. _"Thank god." _ She continued on with her morning routine shower, clothes, makeup. When she was happy with her appearance she walked down stairs to find her mother talking to someone. At first she thought it might have been her father. She froze at the bottom step, _no her father is out on a mission_ she reminded herself. Then a voice she knew all too well replied to her mothers.

_Shi-Ka-Ma-Ru "he's going to give me frown lines_." Taking a deep breath she walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table. Her normal spot there was already a plate of food waiting for her. She did her very best to ignore the staring man next to her. She are at a rather slow-fast pace not wanting her mom to suspect anything strange. "Thank you for breakfast mom." Ino said happily.

"Here let me take your plates." Her mom apporched picking him Ino's empty place and Shikamaru's half eaten. "Shikamaru, you hardly ate anything." She noticed. "Are you feeling okay?" she asked, and he just smiled that stupid smile at her. "Well okay dear." She walked to the sink and started to wash the dishes.

"Stop that." Ino whispered as Shikamaru's hand went to rest on top of hers. _"This is embarrassing." _She thought. Her cheeks turned red when he didn't pull away. "I said don't touch me." She said firmly pulling her out from under his.

"Did you say something dear?" Ino's mom asked over the sink water.

"I said, No lunch for me." She raised her voice with a smile. "I have to go now mom." Before her mom could reply Ino had rushed out the door with Shikamaru at her heels. They walked into the training fields. "Okay listen." She said turning to face him. "Don't come over to my house in the morning, that's just creepy." She insisted. Ino wondered if her demands would be met, or if she would have to request it of him. He still just smiled at her. "And take that stupid hair tie out of your hair."

Shikamaru reached for it but stopped suddenly. "You prefer my hair down?" he asked.

"Yes." She lied. Now that she thought about it. She couldn't think of one time she had seen Shikamaru with his hair down.

"Like this?" He asked as he ran his hands through his lose hair.

"_He doesn't look half bad with his hair down." _She thought. She shook the idea from her mind right away. This was no time for such things. "Step towards me." She ordered.

"You want me to be closer to you?" he asked his eyes looking deep into hers.

"Please come closer." She whispered in a rather sexy voice. Her cheeks flushed as she heard it come from her mouth. She took a step back as he got step closer to her. "Closer.." she said. He moved closer and she moved back only to see she was backing up to a tree. "W-wait." She said holding up her hand hoping to stop him from moving closer.

He stood and took her hand in his almost massaging her hand. "Is something wrong Ino?" he asked

"_Darn it." _She hissed to herself. This Jutsu was going to be harder to figure out then she cared for. Demanding an action seemed to case the person to question if they should take the action. _"Well either way, it seems like he it does it in the end." Only if I want him to,_ she reassured herself. _"So if I ask him not to do something.." _she wondered.

"No it's just." She started. _"This would be so hot if it was Sasuke." _She almost had the image of it inside her head when his next words brought her back to reality.

"Did you want me to kiss you again?" he asked stepping closer towards her.

"N-No," she said her cheeks turning red, her back up against a tree. _"I said no, I said no."_

"Are you sure?" he asked learning in closer to her.

"Shikamaru, D-Don't." She whispered his lips almost meeting her. There was a brief moment he held back. Then their lips met.


	3. Chapter 3

Shikamaru looked at himself in the mirror one black eye. He wondered if he deserved it. _"Or Not." _His mind chimed. It felt like she wanted him to kiss her, it felt like she wanted him badly. Why else would he be so drawn to her? Yes she wanted him. _"Sounds like something a rapist would say." _His mind spoke. "Shut up." He said in response. _"But talking to you is my only joy in life now." _His mind responded sarcastically.

Ino went home a little less angry then the first time he had kissed her. She still wasn't able to figure out his actions in response to hers. When she demanded or asked for action the result was not constant. This time she would meet Shikamaru somewhere more public. That night she thought of 'tests' she could give him, leaving her with any given results. Which would be most favorable and which would not. When she woke the next morning Shikamaru wasn't at her window or in her kitchen. "Thank god." She whispered as she went out the foot door. She froze, "To soon." She said to herself.

Shikamaru stood in front of her with that same stupid smile. Ino was finding it rather annoying, "_Maybe the old Shikamaru was better." _She thought about it for moment. _"or not."_ She laughed to herself.

"Good morning, Ino. What's so funny?" he asked.

"It's nothing," She lied. He reached to take her hand in his but she pulled away. "Come on let's go eat breakfast." He followed her closely, when they reached a restaurant he went to sit down beside her. "Hey, get on your own side." She looked past his puppy dog eyes. "Over there." She insisted. Eventually he sat down across from her. They both ordered a omelet over rice, she had water and he had orange juice. They made some small talk but mostly he just stared at her. _"I wonder if Sasuke would be this creepy.."_ Still as long as it was Sasuke, she could live with it. She smiled.

Shikamaru took her smile as a sign to reach across the table take her hand. Ino quickly snapped out of her dream state. "I'm going to use the restroom." She stood up quickly and bolted for the bathrooms. She looked at herself in the mirror. _'Gah, what am I doing." _ She felt bad, but only for a moment. She turned the sink on and closed her eyes, ready to splash some water on her face. She froze like so many times before, only the scent of oranges. She turned around and screamed. "SHIKAMARU- Get out of here!" Lucky for her, he seemed to be in a listening mood. She returned to the table red like a tomato. He was sitting where she had left him like nothing had happened.

Shikamaru noticed Ino would no longer look his direction or make eye contact. He wondered what he had done wrong. She was rather red, _Maybe she's sick. _ _"__**Wrong**__."_ His mind laughed. When the bill came he paid like a gentleman. Ino walked out leaving him in the dust luckily he was able to catch up.

As she walked a light bulb clicked on inside her head. _"A new theory." _She slowed and let Shikamaru catch up to her. She smiled at him and did her best to give him an alluring look with her eyes. He returned the smile and reached for her hand. This time she did not pull away. This was only to test her new theory at least that's what she told herself. Why did she need convincing? Oddly enough her hand seemed to fit rather well into his. It almost felt nice. _" NO scratch that!" _ her cheeks flushed.

"Ino do you need to go home?" he asked. "You seem to have a fever today."

They stopped walking and she turned to him and looked him in the eyes. She bat her eyelashes "_overkill." _Anyway, "Shikamaru, I was wondering if tomorrow you could meet me." She took a step towards him closing their gap. She learned in to whisper in his ear. "Around 7pm after I finish my errands."

He nodded and gulped in response, feeling her breath on his neck. **"So WRONG." **His mind made a gaging sound in disgust.

"Good I'll see you tomorrow then." She let go of his hand and walked away. _"YES, he didn't follow me." _She returned home and started a mini severance via her windows in the house. To her surprise she didn't see Sikamaru even once. More to her surprise he wasn't outside her window, in her kitchen or outside her house the next morning. She was starting to wondering how effecting this Jutsu really was if he could stay away from her this long. But exactly at 7PM there he was outside waiting for her.

Ino again decided they needed to stay somewhere public. She dragged him to a little antique store. Ino noticed how 'cute' EVERYTHING was. She'd look at each object and its price before placing it back down. Except one object, which resembled some sort of cute hairclip? She reached for it but did not pick it up, her eyes seemed glued to it, but she passed it up. She continued past the display saying how cute everything else was.

Shikamaru's eyes glanced to the item she reached for but didn't pick up. _"I know it's troublesome but, buy it for her."_ His inner mind insisted. "What" He whispered in response. He was reaching out for the object his arm shaking resisting and reaching all at once. _No, she doesn't want that one._ His mind sighed. _"Yes she does, she just didn't want to look at the price because she won't be able to afford it."_

Although Ino was saying how cute verything was she noticed Shikamaru was no longer by her side. She glanced around and saw him at a display she had already looked over. He seemed to be shaking uncontrollably. "Shikamaru are you okay?" she asked with concern. _"I hope this isn't some side effect." _

"I'm in control." He hissed under his breath. He pulled his arm away from the display.

"W-What?" she asked a bit confused.

"I have to go." He said suddenly, almost pushing her out of the way. Ino just stood there trying to understand what had happed.


	4. Chapter 4

Ino found herself in bed, once again unable to sleep. This time out of worry, she looked at her clock. _"2 am, erg." _ She spent her time in bed thinking about many things. None of which were Sasuke. 'Why was the jutsu forbidden?' and 'can the jutsu be broken?' more so. 'Who can I ask?' crossed her mind many times. The most obvious choice was her father, but he didn't want him to know. Asking casually would be an issue. She might be able to pull the wool over her father's eyes if he was incredibly busy with another task when she asked. She thought of when would be the best time, and then her thoughts turned into sleep.

When Ino awoke she realized she slept in. Quickly she got dressed and ate breakfast. She needed to find Shikamaru and make sure he was okay. She arrived outside his house, _"I bet he's still inside asleep!" _at least that was her hope. She knocked on the door and waited. Footsteps quickly came, _"Not Shikamaru." _It was confirmed when a women opened the door, his mother.

"Good morning Ino." His mother smiled at her.

"Good morning." She smiled back. "Is Shikamaru still home?"

"No dear, he left about an hour ago. I'm not quite sure where he went. He's been asking a bit strange lately. Not telling me where he going, and such. I guess he's growing into a man." She laughed.

"Thanks." As she left his house she started to think where he might have gone. She checked the training areas and located Choji, but no Shikamaru. She even checked around her house for him. Her cat was lying on her bed, she smirked. _"At least the cat still loves me." _She wondered if the Jutsu was more effective on animals then humans. She laid down on her bed in the sunlight coming in from her window. _"So warm, I could just take a little nap.." _still a bit tried for her lack of sleep. She looked out the window at the clouds. _"CLOUDS!" _she got up bolted out of her house.

"THERE you are!" she said loudly with her hands on her hips. Her shadow covered the man lying on the grass.

Shikamaru leaned up with a cheesy smile. "Did you miss me?" he asked.

Ino felt her cheeks warm slightly. "N-No." she sat down beside him. "What are you doing here?" she asked. This was the first time she was aware of, that he had been cloud watching since she cast the jutsu on him. He learned back into the grass and she just looked down at him waiting for an answer. It has almost seemed like part of 'the old' Shikamaru was missing. She was glad to see he was still in there somewhere.

"There is a voice in my head." He said.

"Huh?" she almost wanted to laugh.

"It won't shut up unless I watch the clouds."

"Moron.." Ino mumbled. _"Worst excuse ever." _ The least he could do is come up with something more logical. "Have… You been feeling okay?" she asked slightly concerned.

"_Pfft," _he forced a smile. "Why, Do you miss my lips on yours?" he asked. Ino turned red again and slugged him on the shoulder. _"Smooth." _He sat up and took her hand. "I've been feeling more myself." He answered. "But I don't want to." He learned in towards her.

Ino instantly put her hand up against his chest. "No more kissing in public!"

"So you want to kiss me, just not in public?"

"N-No!" she insisted.

Ino began to analyze everything she had learned so far. When Ino was with him, he seemed to want her. When she way away he wanted to be with her. If she'd allow him to be, he would. If she used affection to keep him at a distance he would do it, so he could be with her. Still everything seemed so tricky and to have its own answer. _"There is no constant conclusion." _It almost made her want to pull her hair out.

"Ino." He whispered.

"Hm?"

"Do you love me?" he asked. Rather random and suddenly.

"W-WHAT?" she gasped embraced. She pushed him away feeling like a like a child. _"You know I love Sasuke!" _ She almost spat back. _"Sasuke." _ She just remembered why she was doing all this. That's right, she had to convince Shikamaru to help her capture Sasuke. She turned the tables. "Do, you love me?" she asked ignoring his question.

"Undoubtedly." He replied brushing her bangs away from her eye.

She pulled him into an embrace avoiding any lip contact. "You know how I feel." She replied to his earlier question. This wasn't really a lie but didn't reveal much truth.

He embraced her back. _"That means no." _his mind reminded him. He brushed off his mind with some choice response words. If he was sure about anything, he was sure she would return his feelings. When they broke the embrace it wasn't at all awkward. They lay in the grass watching the sky. After a while he even watched her sleep. _How cute she is_. A ladybug landed on her cheek and she brushed it away. Her nap only lasted around an hour. Still it felt like only minutes to him, he didn't want her to leave his side, ever.

It wasn't until she awoke that she pulled her hand away from his. "Eh, how long was I out?" she asked feeling blinded by the sun. She looked at him, staring at her. "Hey, you didn't do anything creepy while I was asleep did you?!"

"No." if he had learned anything from Twilight watching people sleep was not creepy, but romantic. "I'd never." He promised. "Not while you're sleeping." He grinned.

Ino turned red again and stood up quickly. "Come on, you're buying me lunch!" She demanded. He got up and followed her wanting to take her hand again. "Hey." She said pulling her hand away. "No public displays of affection." She smiled as she saw the confusion in his face.

_First I can and then I can't. _ "_She doesn't want US." _ The voice reminded. _Shut up. _


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning Ino found herself at Yamanaka Santa's house. No Not Santa Clause! Anyway. She had brought along a prop, a fake book titled "Fuji Flower." She explained to him. The book was a sort of spoof and a love story based on Yamanaka history. "So you see this book talks about a Yamanaka secret technique. One that makes the victim fall in love with the caster." She spouted off some nonsense story she had devised before her visit.

He listened closely watching her reactions. He had always wanted a daughter of his own. Or any kids for that matter. His mind returned to the books details. "That's rather odd." Santa said seemingly going into deep thought about something. "I don't recall such a book ever being written."

Ino flashed the book to him. "And here it is." She said then sitting it down coving it with her hands. "But there was a secret technique?" She asked pushing for answers.

"Well yes." He said simply. "There was such a technique, once upon a time."

"Can it be reversed?" she asked, a little bit to fishily. She added a explanation. "I have a prediction of the ending, but only if the technique can be broken." She explained.

"No." he said again simply. "But-" he started being cut off.

"That's a shame." She said with a tone of fake sadness. "How can there ever be a happy ending for this book." she whispered.

"Why is that? Did you want true loves kiss to break the 'spell' ? " He asked, with a grin.

Ino laughed in response. "You should of wrote this book." _If it was a real book... _ "But the way it is, It makes just makes the book seem so unrealistic. It's like garbage, all a fantasy. Fake."

"Don't most women like fairy tales? Who wrote this book anyway?" He questioned leaning in for a closer look at the books cover.

"Most." She said replied quickly to his first question. "Not Jiraiya." She insisted acting as if she was embarrassed. Then hiding the book in her lap away from his eyes.

He chuckled, "Is that so."

She thanked him for the Intel and left his house in a hurry. _"So screwed." _ She hissed to herself. _"Poor Shikamaru…" _She was starting to feel a little bad. If he was forever in love with her he would never find real love. Why had she used this Jutsu on someone she cared for? She recalled the words she told Santa. "A fantasy. Fake." If that was true could she really ever be happy with Sasuke that way? _"But better a zombie then being murdered or killing people." _She told herself. Ino returned home disappointed with her findings.

She couldn't stop thinking about everything that had happened so far. Had she made enough progress in the past weeks? She needed to sit down with Shikamaru and convince him to help her retrieve Sasuke. What would she say to convince him. Would it be hard? Could it be as easy as just batting her eye lashes at him. What would happen when she approached Sasuke. She had heard about the 'incident' Sakura had with Sasuke trying to kill her behind her back. Although she was trying to kill him, so maybe that was the reason why he wanted to kill her? _"Yes." _She told herself. _"That's the version I'll believe." _

With Shikamaru's genius he should be able to decide their best plan of action. _"Wait.." _could the new Shikamaru use his Jutsu? Will he be as smart as he was before? Can he still strategize the best course of action? Why had none of this crossed her mind before. She left the house quickly in search him. Luckily she found him right away, on her way into town.

She decided to sneak up behind him. He might of heard her but he didn't seem to take notice. "Taking a walk?" Ino said coming up beside him. Only then did he acknowledge her presence.

He glanced over to her with a smile, happy to see her. "I was going to find you."

"Oh? You're going the wrong way."

"Yeah, Choji wanted to see if we'd all go eat BBQ today." He explained. "I only turned around because I thought you would scold me for going to your house." Ino let out a slight laugh. "It's not that funny, I've been walking back and forth between here and there for a while now. So BBQ?" he asked. Ino nodded in agreement with the plan. " Now that I think it's been a while since we've all been together." He said.

"You think?" Ino felt worried at his last words. "Do you remember the last time we were all together?" He was silent for a minute thinking it over. _"It wasn't __**THAT**__ long ago!"_

"That mission we went on with Naruto?"

Ino did not like how he was questioning the memory. "Yes, that's right." She confirmed. "After we eat do you have any plans?" she asked.

"No, I don't."

"We should do something." She said. _"Did that sound awkward?!" _

"Oh?" he looked to her with a look that made her cheeks warm. "What kind of things?" She gave him a slight punch to the shoulder. "Okay, Okay, I was only kidding." Somehow they had beat Choji to the agreed location. They sat down and ordered two waters.

"Have you been training?" Ino asked randomly. "Or have you been playing Shogi?" Well there was motive behind asking, but she wanted it to seem random.

"Ino, Shikamaru!" Rang Choji's voice from behind them. He was moving in a rather quick pace towards them. "Good I caught you both." He huffed a little bit. "BBQ will have to wait." He seemed rather heartbroken to bare the news. "We have a new mission, Asuma sent me to tell you both."

Inos heart hit the floor and her eyes went to Shikamaru's face. His expression seemed scared but emotionless at the same time. _"This isn't going to be good." _


	6. Chapter 6

Ino was relived to find their mission was more a reconnaissance mission. She was able to convince Asuma to let her take the lead this time. As they neared their target location they hid their headbands. They hoped to pass off as civilians lost in the deep forest. While Ino was able to pass off any awkward come-on's from Shikamaru with humor. Choji and Asuma seemed to notice but didn't question it. As night started to fall they found a place to camp. Close enough to the enemy base for her to sense people from a safe distance. Hidden away enough they hoped to go undetected.

Asuma and Choji were sitting by the fire they had built. Ino was inside a tent trying to sense a pattern in the movements of the people in the fort. Above ground she felt 5 people near the entrance way. Two guarding the entrance and three that were placed strategically, hidden in the surroundings trees around the base entrance she assumed. That would be a good way to set an ambush. One might walk right up to two lone guards only to be flanked. She moved in deeper to the base trying to concentrate, blocking out everything around her.

"Shikamaru?" Asuma said, noticing Shikamaru attempting to discreetly enter the tent. "Try not to disturb her we need her Intel." He pulled a cigarette from his pack and placed it between his lips. "You hear me?" he mumbled.

Shikamaru shrugged, "She wanted me to help her strategize the best way of entry. Wanting to impress the Hokage I suspect." He entered the tent against Asuma's protest. Choji sat across from Asuma eating a bag of chips happily. Asuma smiled and pulled out his lighter. "Do them two, seem a little strange to you?" he lit it and inhaled.

"Strange?" Choji asked. "Hmm…" He thought it over a little. "Maybe a little." He finished off the bag and decided to open a new one. He shifted through his bag deciding which kind he would like to eat first. Not that it matters he would eat them all anyway. As he pulled his preferred bag of chips out he hummed. Shoving a handful into his mouth before turning his attention back to Asuma. His eye's widened in shock and he dropped his chips. They hit the ground with a crunch and many rolled out from the bag. At this moment he couldn't care about such things.

Shikamaru watched Ino for a moment for once she was not rebelling against him. Although maybe she didn't really know he was there. He placed his hand on her shoulder causing her to jump and squeak. "Shikamaru." Ino hissed softly startled by Shikamaru's presence in the tent. They heard Choji seemingly hum, then stop suddenly. Both shocked to hear, what sounded like his bag of chips fall to the floor.

"Ino, I think -" he whispered.

"Shh!" Ino hissed. All around them the forest was silent. "Asuma?" she whispered softly. They exchanged looks and nodded in agreement. Shikamaru darted out of the tent followed by Ino. She rushed out of the tent just in time, as kunai's with paper bombs hit the tent. It exploded and she was to close, it caused her to be thrown into a trees trunk. She wanted to get up and move but she felt she couldn't breathe. The air had been knocked out of her.

Shikamaru appeared across the camp from her. She seemingly gasped for air though she was not getting any. She pushed herself up into her knees and stood up with the support of the tree. The other hand around her neck implied she couldn't breathe. Asuma was nowhere to be found, while Choji was being attacked by two ninja with kunai. At least it appeared they weren't really trying to kill them. Choji used his expansion jutsu to throw them back, off him. Turning back to Ino, he could see her taking small short breaths.

Honestly he didn't really know what to do. _"But I do." _The voice in his head said. He tried to ignore it, while Ino was looking at him. Waiting for his help yet he felt he couldn't move at all. _"Do you want us all to die?" _ No. Of course not. If that were really true he should return his body to his host. _"If she dies, how will you be able to love her then?" _Then I myself will be dead. I only exist to love her. He noticed movement in the tree beside him. _"NOW." _His mind demanded.

Paper bombs hit the tree Ino held herself up against. Luckily Shikamaru was able to use his shadow jutsu to save her. Together, connected by shadow they ran towards Choji . This gave Ino enough time to catch her breathe. "That was close." Shikamaru said to himself. But there was no reply. He was gone. Shikamaru was glad to finally have his body to himself. This was no good time to celebrate his victory of his long mind battle. They pulled out kunai and stood back to back in a triangle battle formation. "Choji are you already?" Shikamaru asked. Choji nodded, " Ino?" she nodded as all. "Good."

"Choji where is Asuma?" Ino managed out.

Some kind of smoke bomb was thrown to their feet. They each jumped to a new location. Separating them, good move. Ino found Shikamaru but they didn't see Choji. Then a voice, deep and crackly spoke sending a chill down Ino's spine. "We have a plump hostage. Don't follow us." The enemy retreated as the smoke cleared.

Shikamaru felt the urge to smack Ino upside the head and strangle her. If she hadn't cast such a bazar jutsu on him. He sighed and let his anger go, for the moment anyway. "We need to find out what happened to Asuma and then devise a plan to save Choji." Ino looked at him with a smile. She was glad to find Shikamaru was still able to use his Jutsu's. So not all of Shikamaru was gone which made her feel a little better. Maybe it took him longer too responded to situations, which was no good. She wondered if in time, with more training if they could decrease his response time.

Suddenly they heard a loud explosion and the ground shook. Wide eyed they looked to each other in silence. They knew this sound and shake well. It meant only one thing.


End file.
